The liver has many important functions in the body. That’s why when treating liver cancer, it’s important to avoid damaging normal liver tissue as much as possible. Advanced radiation techniques, such as stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) delivered with the CyberKnife System, provide physicians with an option to effectively treat the tumor while minimizing radiation to nearby healthy tissues.
The CyberKnife System, the world’s only robotic radiosurgery system, offers a proven, non-surgical approach to the treatment of liver tumors. Throughout the treatment, the CyberKnife System’s unique real-time motion synchronization technology tracks the position of the tumor and simultaneously moves the robot to adapt the delivery of the radiation beam precisely to the moving target. Abdominal tumors, such as liver tumors, move with a patient’s respiration. Preserving as much healthy liver tissue as possible makes the ability to track, detect, and adapt for this motion critically important. The CyberKnife System’s robotic design and motion synchronization technology enable the delivery of radiation with extreme precision. This surgical-like precision is key to providing the best possible long-term cancer control, while minimizing dose to surrounding healthy tissues to reduce the risk of side effects and preserve liver function. CyberKnife treatment may be an ideal option for patients who cannot undergo surgery and/or whose tumors cannot be completely removed with surgery. The CyberKnife System can also be used as a bridge to transplantation.
You deserve the best possible treatment for your liver cancer. Find a physician in your area offering the CyberKnife System — and find out if CyberKnife treatment is right for you.
The CyberKnife® System is the first and only radiotherapy device that brings true robotic precision and real-time motion synchronization technology to liver cancer treatment. But this revolutionary treatment technology is not new; the CyberKnife System has more than two decades of clinical proof and has helped thousands of patients with various liver cancers and lesions. The CyberKnife System is used to treat liver cancers, including medically inoperable and other complicated cases, with a procedure called stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT).
Your liver moves as you breathe. So does the tumor. Unlike any other radiation treatment, the CyberKnife System uses the world’s only real-time motion synchronization technology to continually track that motion and adapt treatment delivery to maintain sub-millimeter precision. Tiny fiducial markers that act as reference points may be implanted to aid in tracking the tumor during treatment. This ensures the radiation dose is delivered to the target — maximizing treatment effectiveness while minimizing dose to surrounding tissues to reduce the incidence of side effects. And unlike other radiotherapy options, the CyberKnife System does not require uncomfortable patient restraints or breath-hold techniques; you can relax and breathe normally, with full confidence in the CyberKnife’s synchronization capabilities.
The CyberKnife System is an effective alternative for patients with liver metastases who cannot undergo surgery and/or whose tumors cannot be completely removed with surgery. Despite its name, CyberKnife treatment is not a surgical procedure. In fact, there is no cutting involved. This makes the CyberKnife System an excellent treatment option when more invasive techniques are deemed inappropriate or too risky — or for patients seeking to avoid surgical intervention.
Because the precise targeting of the CyberKnife System significantly reduces irradiation of surrounding healthy tissues, it can be a powerful treatment option for a wide range of liver cancer patients. The CyberKnife System may provide a safe radiation treatment option even for some previously irradiated patients
The unparalleled precision and motion synchronization capabilities of the CyberKnife System maximize radiation delivered to the target — while helping to minimize dose to surrounding healthy tissues. The result is highly effective treatment that eliminates many of the inconveniences of other treatments — and significantly reduces the risk of the side effects that too often disrupt the lives of patients during and after treatment. In fact, the hypofractionated, high-dose radiosurgery delivered by the CyberKnife System is emerging as a ground-breaking treatment option — showing evidence of improved tumor control and patient survival when treatment wasn’t possible with conventional radiotherapy or surgery. CyberKnife treatments are typically delivered in 1 to 2 weeks.3
CyberKnife treatment is an outpatient procedure that requires no incisions, no general anesthesia, no hospitalization and no long recovery period.
CyberKnife treatment eliminates the inconvenience and risk associated with seed implants.
References:
1 Bibault, J-E, S. Dewas, S, Vautravers-Dewas C, Hollebecque A, Jarraya H, et al. Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Prognostic Factors of Local Control, Overall Survival, and Toxicity. PLoS One. 2013; 8(10): e77472. Published online 2013 Oct 11. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0077472
2 Yuan ZY, Meng MB, Liu CL, Wang HH, et al. Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy Using the CyberKnife® System for Patients with Liver Metastases. Onco Targets Ther. 2014 Jun 12;7:915-23.
3 Goodman KA, Wiegner EA, Maturen KE, et al. Dose-escalation study of single-fraction stereotactic body radiotherapy for liver malignancies. Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 2010;78:486–493.
Rusthoven KE, Kavanagh BD, Cardenes H, et al. Multi-Institutional Phase I/II Trial of Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Liver Metastases. J. Clin. Oncol. 2009;27:1572–1578.
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